Legislators To Hear Election Reform Plans

Last year, as George Schulte sees it, the Florida Supreme Court took government away from the people. This year, he aims to grab it back.

Schulte was the tough-talking leader behind Citizens Choice, the government-revenue slashing amendment also known as Proposition One and Amendment One.

The signatures of 300,000 Floridians put the measure on the 1984 ballot, aiming to require all levels of government to return to 1980-81 spending levels -- a move that would have forced hundreds of millions of dollars in cutbacks in programs designed to adequately serve Florida`s booming population.

However, seven Florida Supreme Court justices threw the issue off the ballot because of a technicality.

Now Schulte has vowed to force this year`s Legislature to begin the repeal of a constitutional restriction that proved to be Citizens Choice`s undoing.

``There`s a seething ember of rage right under the surface of this state,`` Schulte said. ``The bottom line is, if they don`t act, the people are going to hold their feet to the fire.``

Senate President Harry Johnston, who last year called the potential impact of Citizens Choice ``devastating,`` agrees there is a need to reform the citizen initiative process. But Johnston, D-West Palm Beach, predicted election reform will fall within ``the second echelon of major issues`` to be acted on this session.

Schulte`s attempt to overhaul the way petition drives can alter Florida`s constitution is only one of many proposals for election reform that will be considered when legislators convene in Tallahassee next month.

Legislative committees already are studying proposals that would:

(BU) Allow for a prior review of proposed petition-drive amendments to make sure the measures can pass constitutional muster.

(BU) Prevent unopposed candidates from collecting campaign contributions. Current law allows candidates to keep taking donations as much as three months after they are re-elected without opposition.

(BU) Limit the amount of money special-interest groups can contribute to campaigns.

(BU) Abolish primary runoffs by giving a party`s nomination to the candidate who got the most votes in the first primary, even if he or she didn`t get a clear majority.

(BU) Limit the terms of Cabinet members to two terms, as favored by Senate leaders, or three terms which appears to be favored by the House. The senior Florida Cabinet member is Agriculture Commissioner Doyle Conner, who was first elected to the post in 1960.

Key lawmakers say it is all but certain the Legislature will adopt the ban on donations to unopposed candidates. Everything else, including Schulte`s petition-drive proposal, remains up for grabs.

Because it deals with the fundamental right of voters to change their constitution, the debate over the future of initiative petitions promises to be an emotional one this session.

The Supreme Court followed last year`s Citizens Choice ruling with an equally lethal blow to a proposal that would have limited malpractice awards. In both cases, the court cited a requirement that citizen-sponsored amendments deal with no more than one subject.

Sen. Edgar Dunn, D-Ormond Beach, has suggested letting the attorney general`s office review proposed initiatives before the petition drives begin. That way, Dunn says, citizens would know if their proposal meets the requirement before they go through the ordeal of a signature drive.

``It`s not prior review of the substance,`` said Dunn, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary-Civil Committee, which deals with election laws. ``It has nothing to do with whether you supported (Citizens Choice) or anything else. If you`re a voter, you want to know what you`re voting on.``

Schulte, however, said, ``Nobody is going to look over our shoulder. We are the government, and they are simply our surrogates.``

While some legislative observers say there is sympathy for Citizens Choice backers who felt the Supreme Court left them at the altar, they say it`s unlikely the House and Senate will support outright repeal of the single- subject requirement.

``Democracy requires not only the opportunity for citizen participation, but also for responsible citizen participation,`` said Deborah Hughes, executive director of Common Cause of Florida, a citizen lobby group. ``Elimination of the single-subject requirement would be irresponsible.``

More likely to find smooth sailing is a proposal, suppported by House and Senate leaders, to stop candidates from accepting contributions when they don`t have a campaign to pay for.

Last year a record 62 legislators were re-elected without opposition, and many of them continued to accept thousands of dollars in contributions weeks and even months after they knew they would be unopposed.

``It may be right, it may be wrong. But to the public it doesn`t look so good,`` said House Elections Chairman Joe Allen, D-Key West.